Random Thoughts

Opposing Buted’s reappointment

By Leonardo Micua

IT is now almost a certainty that
the Pangasinan State University (PSU) will have Dr. Dexter Buted back as its
president following his appointment for his second tour of duty by the Board of
Regents of the university headed by its chairman Dr. Prospero “Popoy”
de Vera,
chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd).

But what’s this latest move in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan appealing to the
Civil Service Commission to deny the attestation of Buted’s reappointment which
we believe is now a done deal and as clear as day, so to speak. Methinks, this
latest overture is bound to fail because attestation of appointments by CSC
will just be ministerial as the appointee anyway meets all the qualifications
needed for the position.

I, however, understand the sentiment of the Provincial Board against Dr.
Buted’s reappointment. The body declared him
persona non grata in
Pangasinan owing to his repeated snubs to the series of invitations they
extended for him to help clear certain matters of urgent concerns.

As claimed by Fourth District Board Member Agerico Jeremy Rosario, Dr. Buted–who is also a former board member of Batangas aside from his being a true-blue Ilocano (he’s from Laoag), was still serving a nine-month suspension slapped on him by the Ombudsman. And the case, I understand is still pending before the Ombudsman.

Question now is: Will the CSC consider his current suspension as a reason to deny the attestation of the reappointment of Buted?

* * * *

Before deadline, we received a report that joint
elements of the police from Camp Crame and the Pangasinan Police Provincial
Office, arrested a policeman of Mangaldan while in the act of driving a
carnapped Toyota Hi-Ace van.

The suspect was identified as SPO3 Jonathan Sanchez, a policeman assigned at the Mangaldan Police Station, whose arrest also caused the relief of his chief of police.

The arrest stemmed from the complaint of Mrs. Rosa Pamor of Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. who claimed she is the owner of a van in the custody of PO3 Sanchez, which she rented out last September 8, 2018 for three days but was never returned.

The information was furnished the Mangaldan Police on December 18, 2018 but this was denied by the police station. As it turned out, elements of the Mangaldan PNP arrested several Budol-budol gang members sometime in September 2018, but the operatives excluded seizure of the vehicle found in the custody of the gang in the report. This discovery weighed on the fate of the town’s chief of police. He was relieved as chief immediately especially that the station used the vehicle for its operations and allowed Sanchez to use it for personal purposes. The scalawags in uniform will have to pay.

* * * *

We understand the predicament of
some Comelec officials when being made to respond to questions why they cannot
bring down posters of candidates who are clearly prematurely campaigning ahead
of the official campaign period.

While they continue to cite Supreme Court decision in the Peñera versus
Comelec, the response bewilders many.

But wait till the campaign period
gets going. The Comelec will surely enforce election laws strictly. Those illegal campaign posters will be
destroyed and hopefully they will be made to account and be penalized.

I can imagine that the only reason that the Comelec cannot fully enforce the
ban on illegal campaign posters is its lack of manpower. But on the other hand,
it can mobilize other agencies, like the DPWH, possibly with the help of
ROTC cadets, to take care of bringing down the illegal campaign posters.